Husband opens up about slain Sandy Hook psychologist, Vestal grad

Dec. 18, 2012

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In lieu of flowers, Mary Sherlach’s family has asked that memorial contributions be made to the Fairfield County Community Foundation, Fund for Health and Wellness, 383 Main Ave., Norwalk, CT 06851 to continue her work with children and mental health.

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When Bill Sherlach heard something horrible was happening at Sandy Hook Elementary School last week, he had no doubt his wife had done what she could to keep children out of harm’s way.

“That’s what she was ... that was her,” he said in a phone interview Tuesday. “Right in the middle of it right to the very end.”

Helping children was the life’s work of Mary Sherlach, the 56-year-old Vestal native who was one of six adults and 20 children killed by a lone gunman before he took his own life Friday at Sandy Hook Elementary School.

After graduating from Vestal High School in 1974, Mary Sherlach earned an undergraduate degree from SUNY-Cortland and a masters degree from Southern Connecticut State University.

“She considered what she was doing God’s work,” Bill Sherlach said. “She was all about helping people, and especially the kids. And that’s what she liked to focus on: working with the kids, helping them through their problems, getting them through the day.”

His wife had been employed as Sandy Hook’s school psychologist since August 1994, according to her professional website. Prior to that, she worked as a psychologist in the Connecticut towns of Redding, North Haven and New Haven.

Her life, Bill Sherlach said, was about being a giving person.

“It wasn’t something that you would miss. It was just straight out there,” he said. “A very giving personality. And would take whatever time you needed and just be there for whoever needed her.”

Mary Sherlach’s caring touch was not limited to her professional life, her husband said.

She was “a great mother, unbelievable wife,” he said.

The two had been married 31 years and have two adult daughters. One is a high school chorus teacher in New Jersey, the other a PhD student in chemistry at Georgetown University.

According to police and witness accounts, Sherlach was at a meeting with principal Dawn Hochsprung and others Friday when they heard gunshots and ran toward where the sound was coming from.

“They didn’t think twice about confronting or seeing what was going on,” Dawn Day, a therapist who works at the school and was at the meeting, told the Wall Street Journal.

The courage of Sherlach’s final act drew recognition across the country and internationally. President Barack Obama said during a Sunday night vigil that she and other school employees “did not flinch, did not hesitate” when the students were confronted with danger.

“They responded as we all hope we might respond in such terrifying circumstances: with courage, with love, giving their lives to protect the children in their care,” Obama said.

In the days since, the family has been the recipient of an outpouring of support. An effort at Georgetown University’s law school to raise money for a foundation dedicated to mental health in Mary Sherlach’s memory raised $5,000 in one day.

“It gives you strength to carry on that there are people out there,” Bill Sherlach said. “Hopefully we can get through all of this and on the other side come away with making sure we do what these kids really need.”